HEROES OF THE ARMY OF REPUBLIKA SRPSKA RECEIVE CENTRAL MEMORIAL AFTER MORE THAN THREE DECADES

Banja Luka has unveiled a Central Memorial Monument dedicated to the soldiers of the Army of Republika Srpska, more than three decades after the end of the Defensive-Patriotic War. The monument honors those who gave their lives in the foundations of the Republic.

PHOTO: Đorđe Vuković

The memorial was unveiled at Serbian Heroes Square as part of the commemoration of January 9 – the Day of Republika Srpska. On this date in 1992, Republika Srpska was established under its original name, the Republic of the Serbian People in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The monumental complex will bear the names of more than 26,000 fallen members of the Army of Republika Srpska and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Republika Srpska.

Reacting to the decision by Muslim and Croat political representatives to seek international recognition of Bosnia and Herzegovina from the European Community, Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina proclaimed the Republic of the Serbian People in Bosnia and Herzegovina on January 9, 1992.

This decision was adopted by the then Assembly of the Serbian People in Bosnia and Herzegovina through the Declaration on Proclamation.

The Republic was declared in areas of Serbian autonomous regions and districts, as well as other Serbian ethnic territories in Bosnia and Herzegovina, including areas where the Serbian population had remained a minority due to the genocide committed against them during the Second World War.

With the adoption of the Constitution on February 28, 1992, the name Republic of the Serbian People in Bosnia and Herzegovina was changed to the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was proclaimed as a state of the Serbian people and all citizens living within it, while remaining part of the federal state of Yugoslavia.

By constitutional amendments adopted on August 12, 1992, the name was changed to Serbian Republic, and in September of the same year it was replaced by its current name – Republika Srpska, described as a pledge of freedom for the Serbian people in Bosnia and Herzegovina.